The Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) has called on the development industry to commit to higher building standards and work with governments to enable this, saying the public’s faith in new and existing apartment towers is at a tipping point.
PIA Chief Executive Officer David Williams said concerns over poor-quality construction – dramatically underlined by the evacuation of the Opal and Mascot Towers in Sydney – have the potential to discourage apartment-living.
“The problems affecting the Opal and Mascot Towers appear to be structural and therefore engineering-related,” Mr Williams said.
“But they reinforce public perceptions that some new and existing apartments are badly built, often with poor fit and finish, acoustic problems and moisture incursion.”
“We can’t afford to let bad tall-building construction undermine efforts to enable more diverse housing and more sustainable development patterns in Australia’s cities,” he noted.
PIA is concerned that if trust in apartment living declines, the losers will not just be the stricken residents of Opal and Mascot towers but the community at large.
“The bigger picture here is housing availability and urban sustainability,” Mr Williams said.
“We need to build more appropriate housing, particularly housing that is affordable – and we need to limit the environmentally damaging effects of urban sprawl.”
High-rise apartments and commercial towers give more people the choice to live closer to work, travel less and have access to the amenity of urban centres. They are part of the fabric of well-planned successful cities.
Concentrated living expands the choice and price points of available housing for residents, and strengthens the job market and vitality of centres.
“Having well-planned, designed and built apartments has real sustainability, energy, affordability, and wellbeing advantages – not just for residents but for the community at large,” Mr Williams said.
This is why PIA is concerned that trust in apartment construction be restored and strengthened.
PIA calls on the development and building professions to identify and commit to the improvements needed in their systems to ensure that purchasers have the confidence to invest in and enjoy their homes.
PIA specifically supports efforts by the Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG) Building Ministers Forum to put a reform roadmap in place to better regulate the building industry.
The Institute supports the recommendations of the Shergold and Weir report which informed COAG – and it has written to the relevant Ministers to urge them to implement all the recommendations without delay.
PIA is also working to enhance trust and transparency in all levels of planning and development, recognising community goodwill is a vital ingredient to dense urbanism.
Mr Williams said: “Conveying the need for a wide mix of housing, including high-rise, is a struggle, and heightened public suspicions around the design and build-quality of our apartments will make it even harder to sell.
“At a time when there is a need for a wider range of housing, having confidence in the quality of new apartment offerings – and in the future direction or our cities – has never been more critical,” he said.